Boxes, Anyone?

Woop, woop! Anyone moving anytime soon? Well, no worries - I HAVE BOXES FOR YOU! Lots and lots of empty, no longer necessary BOXES!

What a great feeling to be able to park TWO whole cars in my 2-car garage! Sigh... this nesting thing is addictive. "Hi, my name is Kat, and I have a Nesting Problem!" "Hi, Kat!"

Not too sure where this burst of nesting energy came from today. I mean, I'm having a ball in my new house, but I made an unusual amount of progress today. Cloudy weather? Re-energized after a night of margaritas and hot-tubbing at Krysti's house last night? (Had a great time, Krysti - thank you! But I think I'll have to pass on getting my very own hot tub - I crashed like I was in a coma when I got home - and it WASN'T the tequila!) I don't know...

I imagine it COULD have something to do with tomorrow's date = January 15th. Mom would have been 74 years old. I have become more perceptive about the "milestones." I can predict a "tender" day on January 15th, of course, and September 4th, the day Mom died. It's the non-milestone-dates that continue to throw me, even after five years and four months. Something out of the blue that reminds me.

Yesterday for instance. My co-worker, Robin, had a busy day. She was out on Thursday, so she was playing "catch-up" - didn't hear much from her. We have only worked together for a short time - we enjoy chatting about running (I'm holding you to your goal of placing in the top 20 for this year's City of Trees, Robin!) but we don't know each other all that well yet.

All of a sudden, an Instant Message popped up on my computer: "Mouse, how are you doing?" Whoa. Mom used to call me Mouse... in fact, I am HORRIBLY ashamed that I asked her to call me that "one last time" about three weeks before she died. Yeah, and I'M the sensitive one - NICE, Kat! But I was instantly choked up - nobody has called me Mouse in a long, long time.

I sensed that Robin would be open to the fact that I was choosing to interpret her calling me Mouse as somewhat mystical... and she concurred. Said she wasn't known for using diminutives like that, so I was welcome to interpret as a sign that Mom was communicating with me... Mom always did like having the last word!

Part of the moving process that is refreshing, but sometimes painful, is discarding things. I just threw out a box. Ok, so I have thrown out a LOT of boxes today! But this was the last box Mom ever sent me. Sound dumb? Probably. But I had to take a moment... observed her handwriting (always flawless, even though she hated it) and the date - about three months before she died. Took me right back there. Imagine? Sick with cancer, in pain, constantly nauseated, and she made sure to send me a box full of Christmas items, so I would have them in my (then) new duplex in Twin Falls. Man. The stuff I took for granted.

BUT I'M FINE! Let me state for the record - I AM OKAY! Had some concern expressed by one of my older brothers... yeah, but let's not forget my favorite quote from my good friend Wendy - "That which does not kill us makes us stronger." Ok, so she can't take credit for that part of the quote - what she DOES deserve top honors for is the second part of the quote that she made up a few months after her father died of cancer: "Do we really need to be any FUCKING stronger?!" I love that!!

I embarrassed Wendy during her recent trip to Boise when I admitted that she is one of my idols. (Right up there with Mom, David Austin, Richard Arnold, Paul Schimp, (former teachers) Sarah Vowell and Michael Keaton!) At least I'm learning to say what I'm feeling NOW, rather than waiting until it's too late... right? RIGHT!